SNOW...in Texas?

Yes friends, the rumor you have heard is true.  This time last week the majority of texas was covered in a thick blanket of the most beautiuful snow!

This is definitely a rare sight in texas!

The branches have so much snow on them they are being weighed down!

Look how thick the snow is on those branches!

Snow is such a beautiful sight!

The dark tones of the bark against the white snow is absoutely gorgeous!

There are so many things you begin to notice when it snows the you normally wouldn't.  Like roof tops.  I've never really paid much attention to roof tops till now.  But they all look so amazing when laden with snow!

My poor little car didn't like the snow very much!

You can see all my siblings foot prints in the snow!

pretty berry's in the snow

My little siblings loved the snow, this was the biggest snow fall most of them had ever seen!

I didn't get to play in the snow as much as I would have liked too.  That afternoon my drill team left for austin to go to a competition!

Saturday was our competition so the sunday my family spent the day driving around austin.  My extended family and moms side of the family live there so we visited cousins and went to see the capital!

The surrounding area around the capital is gorgeous! I will upload more pics later of all the architecture inside the building. 

Wish me well tomorrow at my last drill team competition ever!

Have a wonderful day!

Hayden Lorraine~

Ecc. 3:1

Knitting :)

                                         Good news friends, writers block has vanished!

This post is for all you knitters :)  I love love love to knit.  I'm one of the few people my age that enjoys knitting and I would love to hear stories, tips or any knitting experiences you may have had! Its is always an encouragement to see that other people my age like to knit!  Recently I accomplished my second sampler afgan and it turned out quite nice! I'm using it right now as I write this post!

I couldn't get it to exactly lay straight but this is about what it looks like.  I used light pink and medium pink shades to create a checkered pattern.  It is four by three squares and composed of a variety of knitted patterns. 

Above is Elfin Lace, one of the patterns in my afgan.  All of the patterns in my afagn came from the book 60 easy to knit pattern stitches combine to create sampler afgans. 

to create this pattern:

cast on 57 stitches

Row1: AND ALL WRONG SIDE ROWS: purl across

Row 2:  K2, YO, SSK, (K6, YO, SSK) 6 times, K5.

Row 4: K3, YO, SSK, (K3, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK) 6 times, K4

Row 6: K4, YO, SSK, (K1, K2 tog, YO, K3, YO, SSK) 6 times, K3.

Row 8: K2, K2 tog, YO, K5, (YO, slip 2 as if to knit, K1, P2SSO, YO, K5) 6 times

Row 10:  (K6, YO, AAK) 7 times, K1

Row 12:  K4, K2 tog, YO, (K1, YO, SSK, K3, K2 tog, YO) 6 times, K3

Row 14:  K3, K2tog, YO, (K3, YO, SSK, K1, K2 tog, YO) 6 times, K4.

Row 16:  K5, YO (slip 2 as if to knit, K1, P2SSO, YO, K5, YO) 6 times, K2 tog, K2

 Repeat Rows 1-16 until square measures approximately 12" from cast on edge, ending by working a purl row.  Bind off all sts leaving last loop on needle. 

Edging: Drop loop from needle, insert crochet hook in loop, do not turn; work 3 sc in each corner and 48 sc evenly spaced across each side; join with slip st to first sc, finish off.

This one is definetly my favorite out of all of them! You can't see the whole thing so you don't get the whole picture but its simply gorgeous! And its not that hard.  It is however kind of long to type out so if you want the pattern for this one let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. 

The Trinity Stitch.  An easy one that looks like it took a lot of effort! However it is a pain to block. 

To create this pattern:

Cast on 54 sts.

Row 1-8: Knit across

note: when instructed to slip a stitch, always slip as if to purl, with yarn held in front (on the wrong side). 

Row 9:  K5, slip1, K1, * (K, P, K) all in next st, P3 tog; repeat from * across to the last 7 sts, K1, slip 1, K5.

Row 10:  (right side):  K7, P 40, K7

Row 11:  K5, slip 1, K1, * P3 tog, (K, P, K) all in the next sts; repeat from * scorss to last 7 sts, K1, slip 1, K5

Row12:  K7, P 40, K7

Rows 13-71: Repeat Rows 9-12, 14 times; then repeat Rows 9-11, once more.

Rows 72-79:  Knit across

Bind off all sts leaving last loop on needle.

Edging: Drop loop from needle, insert crochet hook in loop, do not turn; work 3 sc in each corner and 58 sc evenly spaced scross each side; join with slip st to first sc, finish off.

This is definitely a close tie for favorite with the other cable pattern.  And it is also really simple, so heres the pattern!

For this one you will need a cable needle

note: when instructed to slip a stitch, always slip as if to knit.

Cast on 63 sts,

Row 1: AND ALL WRONG SIDED ROWS: purl across

Row 2 (right side) :  P1, K6, * YO, slip 1, K1, PSSO, K1, K2 tog, YO, K6; repeat from * 4 times more, P1.

Row 4:  P1. K7, YO, slip 1, K2 tog, PSSO, YO, * K8, YO, slip1, K2 tog, PSSO, YO; repeat from * 3 times more, K7, P1.

Row 6: Repeat Row 2

Row 8:  P1, work Cable as follows: slip 3 sts onto cable needle and hold in back of work, K3, K3 from cable needle (Cable made), * K1, YO, slip 1, K2 tog, PSSO, YO, K1, work cable; repeat from * 4 times more, P1

Repeat Rows 1-8  until the square measures approximately 12" from cast on edge, ending by working a purl row.  Bind off leaving last loop on the needle.

For edging see the above patterns and repeat those edging instructions.

Not the prettiest, but its simple and gives the blanket some warmth because its not filled with pretty lacy hole like all the other patterns in my afgan

Another simple looking pattern (not so simple to do though!) but looks absolutely precious in little girl blankets. I love the daisy pattern!

Another pretty and elegant lace.  I like this one because it only has one cable in it and then has the lace pannels bordering it on the sides

This one is a favorite as well. However I messed it up a lot in the process.  It kind of looks like butterflies to me :)

This is what I'm currently working on for my little brother. I'm making him a mini afgan to use as one of his "blankies" He loves the color blue so this yarn only seemed appropriate.

Heres another pattern that is going in Joshua's blanket.  Its a zig zag pattern that isn't too difficult and is warm.

 Heres another shot of the one that I'm currently working on.  I love my brand new mahogany knitting needles that I got for christmas.  They have real mother of purl on the tops.

For christmas I attempted to make my little sisters a pair of matching scarves and mittens however they ran out of this pretty and girls pink yarn :( What i did get to make of it looks pretty cute though :)

I started this scarf in between afgans because I didn't know who I wanted to make am afgan for next.  I haven't finished that either yet, lol

That is one of the other scarfs that I tried to make as a christmas present but never finished.  Haha! I seem to start projects when I'm on a knitting high and then they get lost in the mix of afgans lol I love the yarn though. However it is kind of difficult to work with.  But the sparkles make it extra girly!

Heres a picture of the yarn up close

I hope you enjoyed a little look into my knitting world! As I make new things I plan on posting up my progress!

Have a wonderful day :D

Hayden Lorraine ~

Ecc. 3:1

How rare and special our kind are

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever, but I finally have something that has been on my heart for a while now that I would to share :) One of my very dearest friends who I grew up with in church, who had the same frame of mind as I did and has parents to guide her, has taken a different path in life. She was probably the most determined person I knew that wanted to beat the odds and be an example to all young people by living a pure life. Both of us were strong in iur commitment not to kiss anyone but our future husbands and were very determined in that decision to make it happen. We hadn't talked in a little while due to our insanely busy senior year schedules but had the opportunity too last week at my little sisters birthday party. Before I continue with my story I must add in that I LOVE just sitting down and talking to my friends about life! Anywhoo, Emmaleighn and I escaped from the little kid sugar hyped up madness to a seculeded place where we could
get away from it all and catch up. The main reason I wanted to talk to her was because the night before at a friends house her boyfriend was talking to my friend and telling my friend about all the stuff they have done together (I'll spare you the details). I was completely horrified by what I thought were rumors he was spreading to beef up his ego. I will admit that I am pretty niave when it comes to people. It's not in my nature to think the worst of people, I pretty much think that everyone is perfect until my world is shattered by reality. So Emmaleighn and I were talking and I asked her if theses things were true. Expecting her to reply with a quick and shocked no, she replied with a shy and ashamed yes. Wow I wish you could have seen the size of my eyes! Millions of things were running through my mind; how, why, what happened! When i asked her why, she told me it was hard to explain and that i would undertand when i fell in love like she had.
And to make matters more distressful she plans to move in with him this summer. Where did that girl who didn't want to kiss anyone but her husband go! How could this of happened! Where was I while she was going through this! Then i started blaming myself. I said thought that if only we had talked more about staying pure or holding eachother more accountable this wouldn't have happened. But one thing, if any that I have learned from the many cenarios like this I have been through, I have learned this, it is not your fault! There is nothing you could have done to keep your friend from making the decision that they did. You must always remember that you do not hold in your hands the fate of anyone, our precious and all wise Lord does. I may not understand why she went back on her promise to stay pure but I do know that we who do stay pure are like a rare species of flower. You who are pure and intend to keep your purity are a very special person indeed.
You will encounter events like this in your life! Not everyone will keep there promise to stay pure, not everyone is as strong and determined as you are! But to you who are strong, stay strong and mighty in the Lord and pray for those who have broken there promise to stay pure! Pray that they find the path back to the Lord. But in the mean time be there for your friends who have broken their promise. Love them, let them know that you don't see them any different; because I promise you, that is their biggest fear! They fear they will lose your friendship because of there mistake. But what kind of Christian stops loving there friend because of a mistake? Is that showing the love of Christ? Certainly not, if He can love us for making daily mistakes then who are we not to forgive our friends and love them more than ever! I do pray and hope that you will never have to go through something like this, but everyone is human and has weakness of the flesh. But
we Christians have also have the desires of Christ that battle with our flesh daily. Stay strong my friends!
If you have any prayer requests feel free share :)

Hayden ~
Ecc. 3:1

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